CanadianChris

I don't think the lack of MVPs hurts him that much. He was never on a good team, except for his days in Pittsburgh, when he played with (and was overshadowed by) one of the five best players of all time. I said a few days ago about Damphousse that if you're one of those very-good-but-not-great players, you need to have had a very long and very productive career to make the Hall. Francis has both of those, so he's in.

Everyone's a potential until they actually get in, but I agree with you.

Another potential Hall of Famer retires: Ron Francis

I guess that depends on how you define "good." They're mostly down from last year, albeit slightly. They put a "dream match" on for Summerslam and it only got them an extra 75K-100K buys. And there's nothing to indicate they have anything good to put on for the rest of the year. If I was an investor, I wouldn't be overly excited.

Blonds > Quebecers > Dudleys Not to nitpick, but Austin and Pillman were the Hollywood Blonds (no e). A "blonde" (with the e) is female.

If he didn't say it, people would be saying it for him before long.

If you're hanging your hopes on Radek Bonk, prepare to be very disappointed. Like I said, though, I really have no idea who'll finish where. Makes for some good discussion, though. I'm surprised no one has said I'm on crack for my Nashville winning the Central prediction.

The only two players who got 10 right were playing each other? That's funny.

Since the first training camps are opening, it seemed appropriate to start a new thread. Someone can lock the other one, I guess. I'll start off with my (probably completely off-base) predictions for this year (playoff seedings in brackets): EASTERN CONFERENCE ATLANTIC: 1. (1) Philadelphia 2. (5) Pittsburgh 3. (6) New Jersey 4. NY Islanders 5. NY Rangers NORTHEAST: 1. (2) Ottawa 2. (4) Boston 3. (7) Toronto 4. Montreal 5. Buffalo SOUTHEAST: 1. (3) Tampa Bay 2. (8) Florida 3. Atlanta 4. Washington 5. Carolina WESTERN CONFERENCE CENTRAL: 1. (3) Nashville 2. (7) Detroit 3. Chicago 4. St. Louis 5. Columbus NORTHWEST: 1. (1) Vancouver 2. (4) Calgary 3. (6) Edmonton 4. (8) Colorado 5. Minnesota PACIFIC: 1. (2) Dallas 2. (5) San Jose 3. Anaheim 4. Los Angeles 5. Phoenix CONFERENCE FINALS: Vancouver over Calgary, Boston over Ottawa STANLEY CUP: Vancouver over Boston HART TROPHY: Markus Naslund, Vancouver

Peter Bondra signed with the Thrashers. Still no word on Kovalchuk. And no, you can have any number of teams in the roto league, because it doesn't rely on pairing off teams each week. It's a season-long ranking of performance in various statistical categories.

I was surprised by the fact that it was a decent match, as opposed to the mediocre-to-bad one I was expecting. It sure isn't MOTY, though. Not even in the top 20. That people are holding up matches like this one show just how thin a year it's been in terms of match quality.

I know this is going to shock everyone, but the Padres just broke their own record for latest to lead a division with a losing record.

He was my favourite player. I think he was the last player left from when I started watching hockey in 1981, too.

I wouldn't call six games against Minnesota a real creampuff of a schedule, especially when the Twins went into US Cellular (God that sounds so wrong) and swept the Sox just last month. I still think Cleveland has the schedule advantage coming down the stretch.

Harlem Heat over the Bulldogs, then RnRs over Harlem Heat.

I really think Cleveland has a realistic shot at the division now. After the Oakland series, they get six games against the White Sox, and their other nine games are all against either Kansas City or Tampa Bay. If they can win both series against the Sox, they've got a decent chance at it.

There's a glitch that lists everyone who picked St. Louis as winning 24-14. Strange. I think there's actually a second chance feature in this pool.

Yes, I can't wait for the dulcet tones of Theismann and Maguire.

Time for the sing-a-long and goofy nicknames. *WOOOOOOOP* *WOOOOOP* *WOOOP* <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You forgot, "He could...go...ALL...THE WAY!!" every single segment.

Yeah, starting it when training camps open is probably the best idea.

You said they'd win by 20. Or 30. I don't remember the exact number.

Not a pretty win, from the looks of things, but I'll take it.

There'll be a thread for that soon enough.

When are you changing your avatar, SA?

Andre's done. I've seen this before.